Up the Rano Kau

So sad... Today’s my last full day here on Easter Island.
Before I got here, I’d thought that 4 days would be more than enough time. I mean, how much moai can you stand??? (To answer my own question, “LOTS”!) And I’d thought that there were only moais to see on the island.
But actually, there’s a load of stuff you can do here. I wish I had a couple of more days to go scuba diving (some moais were toppled into the ocean), horseback riding, and check out the other beaches. I would’ve changed my flight date if only I didn’t have the academic obligations (ie. Spanish class)...

The Residencial Miru guests (still only the three of us!) took the morning easy. We wandered to the coast to watch the flight from Santiago or Tahiti come in and fly right above us. I guess we were all a bit of airplane freaks. Hehe.
The flight must’ve been delayed, for we waited a while. We played with the stray dog that followed us from the village, looked for some shade under the rocks (only the dog would fit!), and admired the clear, deep blue waters. Not for swimming though. Too rough and wavy. Saw a bunch of sea urchins scattered all over the ocean floor, which might’ve seemed appetizing to some people, but not to Waru.

After a lunch of ceviche (yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmy!!!), we headed towards Rano Kau. It’s an inactive volcano with some village ruins (called Orongo) at the top. Incidentally, this is the only part of the island where you need to pay admission fees. 5,000CHP when I went.

The ascent is only about 300m, but not the easiest thing to do in the heat and humidity. I don’t know why none of us thought to climb the volcano during the early morning hours when the temperature would’ve been more comfortable. Oh well. Not everyone can be rational all the time, right?!
Well, the sweating was all worth it though. The view of the crater was incredible!!! Unlike the crater at Rano Raraku (the quarry site), there aren’t any moai statues. I just thought that the natural colors, especially the varying shades of green, were beautiful!!! We all sat on the grass, admiring the views, for some amount of time.

The ruins of Orongo weren’t nearly as good. For one, you couldn’t even really tell what the ruins were. We learned that the little round stone enclosures were dwelling places only after eavesdropping on a group of tourists with a guide in front of us.
That night, the guest house family invited us to a night under the stars. Basically, their daughter was going to New York on a Fulbright scholarship (wow!), and they wanted to have a gathering before she left. It would involve an outdoor BBQ and an all night chat session inside a cave. Sounded fun! It would've been a great ending to my stay on Easter Island. But then again, I wouldn’t be able to understand a word of what was going on (which would certainly limit my fun). Plus, I was exhausted from the hike and wanted to sleep in a warm bed instead of on rocks. So, the 2 Asians decided to stay behind while the Spaniard went to enjoy the festivities.
The sweet Korean guy cooked up a random meal (involving spicy red sauce of course) for us. How nice!